Chapter 361: The World Was Never The Same Again

The livestream had ended and Liam was back in the Voyager. Lucy had already set a course for Jupiter, which would be their next stop. It would take about three days and eight hours to get there, which meant that Liam had to find what to do with the time he had on his hands. And he already knew exactly what that would be.He planned to use the entire journey to continue training his powers and refining the new ability he’d acquired. The electromagnetic field detection was something that would definitely come in handy one day, though right now it remained frustratingly limited.

Currently, he could only detect active electronics and power sources. The ability gave him a general sense of direction and intensity of EM fields, like a compass pointing toward electrical activity. He could feel the "buzz" of high-voltage equipment or strong magnets as a kind of pressure against his consciousness. Radio and Wi-Fi signals registered as vague static, a background noise he was learning to filter and interpret.

For now, it wasn’t on the same level of usefulness as his other abilities. Like flight, or his telekinetic field that acts as an invisible shield, protecting him from physical threats. But electromagnetic sensitivity? That felt incomplete, like a half-developed sense that needed refinement before it became truly practical.

Still, Liam was certain that with more training, he would unlock greater applications. Every power started somewhere. The electromagnetic sense would follow the same trajectory—he just needed to put in the work.

He decided to lock himself into a strict routine for the next three days. Six hours of intensive training in the facility, pushing his abilities to their limits. Four hours of lighter practice, experimenting with his electromagnetic sense in different environments throughout the ship. Then rest periods where he’d check on how the world was reacting to the livestream.

Lucy was keeping him updated on everything—the public chaos on social media, but more importantly, the actual decisions governments, corporations, and influential organizations were making behind closed doors. The things they didn’t want anyone to know about.

As for how much chaos he’d caused with the first livestream? Let’s just say the world was never quite the same afterward.

***

On Earth, the reaction to the livestream was nothing short of seismic.

Within twenty-four to seventy-two of the broadcast ending, global stock markets had entered what analysts were calling "The Nova Correction."

Mining companies hemorrhaged value, losing 30-60% of their market capitalization overnight. Every major mining operation watched their stock prices crater as investors realized that terrestrial mining might become economically obsolete within a decade.

Aerospace companies faced similar turbulence. SpaseX’s private valuation dropped an estimated 40%. Azure Origin’s backers quietly began reassessing their commitments. Even established players like Lockheed Martins and Booeing saw their space divisions’ valuations slashed as the market absorbed the reality that someone had leapfrogged the entire industry.

But the chaos wasn’t limited to obvious sectors. The precious metals market went insane. Gold futures spiked 18% in panicked buying, then crashed 25% as people realized that if asteroid mining became viable, precious metals would flood the market. Platinum, palladium, rhodium—every rare element’s long-term value became questionable.

Currency markets trembled. Some economists argued that Nova Technologies’ demonstration proved that resource-backed currencies were the only safe haven. Others insisted that asteroid abundance would make all material wealth meaningless, and only intellectual property and services would retain value.

Nobody knew who was right. But everyone was terrified of being caught on the wrong side of history.

***

In Washington D.C., an emergency session convened at the White House Situation Room just four hours after the livestream ended.

Present were the President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Defense, the heads of NASA and the newly formed Space Force, and representatives from the CIA and NSA.

The Director of National Intelligence opened with the most pressing question: "Do we have any assets capable of reaching that ship?"

The Space Force commander shook his head. "Our fastest current propulsion systems would take months just to reach the asteroid belt. And that’s assuming we could even locate the vessel, which we can’t. It didn’t appear on any of our tracking systems before or during the broadcast."

"Stealth capabilities," the Secretary of Defense muttered. "They have active stealth in space. That alone puts them decades ahead."

"Decades?" The NASA administrator laughed bitterly. "Try centuries. The technology demonstrated in that broadcast—the propulsion, the life support, the communications latency, the material science in that exosuit—we can’t even theorize how half of it works."

The President leaned forward. "Options. Give me options."

"Diplomatic outreach through JP Morgan," someone suggested. "They’re the only confirmed connection we have."

"Already tried. Whitlock won’t even take calls from the Treasury Secretary anymore."

"Economic pressure on Nova Technologies?"

"We have seen traces of Nova Technologies touch the traditional financial system. We have no leverage."

"What about the suspected owner? Liam Scott?"

The CIA director spoke up. "We’ve had surveillance on him for six weeks. Current status: unknown. Last confirmed sighting was him boarding his private A380 heading to his believed Caribbean island. Since then, nothing. Since we can’t detect the island, we have no idea what’s going on there."

"So he could be on that ship right now."

"Or anywhere else in the solar system, apparently."

The President rubbed his temples. "Are they a threat?"

"Unknown," the DNI replied. "They haven’t demonstrated hostile intent. But capability-wise? That ship likely carries weapons systems that could threaten our entire satellite network. Possibly more."

"Recommendations?"

"Monitor and wait. We can’t force contact, and aggressive action could turn a neutral party into an adversary. For now, we watch and hope they’re as benevolent as they seem."

The meeting adjourned with no real conclusions, just a shared sense of helplessness that the United States government wasn’t used to feeling.

***

In Beijing, the Central Committee held a similar meeting with similar results. China’s space program had invested hundreds of billions in developing lunar infrastructure. Now they were questioning whether any of it mattered if one private entity had already surpassed them entirely.

The Ministry of State Security reported that they’d attempted to infiltrate JP Morgan’s systems. Every attempt had failed. Not in the usual way, where you left traces and had to cover your exit. They’d failed in ways that suggested their intrusion attempts were detected and neutralized before they even began.

"It’s like they knew we were coming before we did," one officer reported. "The security protocols adapt in real-time. We’ve never seen anything like it."

The European Union convened emergency sessions. Russia activated intelligence networks across three continents trying to gather any information on Nova Technologies’ origins. India, Japan, South Korea—every major power was scrambling to understand and respond to the new reality.

And all of them reached the same conclusion: they were powerless to do anything except watch.

***

But governments weren’t the only ones reacting with panic.

Tech billionaires who’d spent decades building their empires suddenly felt very small. Elon had barely slept since the broadcast, his engineers working around the clock trying to reverse-engineer even a fraction of what they’d seen.

Jeff reportedly canceled Azure Origin’s next three launches, demanding his team "figure out what the hell we’re missing" before they proceeded.

Marcus Zuckerberg’s investments in VR suddenly looked quaint compared to Lucid’s full immersion technology.

The thousand people who owned Lucid devices found themselves in an impossible position. They were receiving offers—serious offers—of $50 million, $100 million, even $200 million for their devices. Mostly from tech companies wanting to reverse-engineer them. And some were from agencies that wants to do the same thing.

Not a single one of them sold. Because they understood something the billionaires and everyone else didn’t: this wasn’t about money anymore. The Digital Aristocrats held access to experiences that wealth alone couldn’t buy. That was worth more than any dollar amount.

***

As for the digital artifacts, due to the fact that all Lucid users’ identities were kept anonymous, the world was offering every Lucid users millions of dollars to come out and show them if they were among the lucky twelve that received the artifact.

Some of them collected the money and shared the portal to view the artifacts. But the metadata and other information weren’t on the portal.

Someone created a website cataloging all known artifacts, tracking their provenance and current owners. Authentication services emerged overnight, offering to verify the cryptographic signatures and metadata. Legal experts debated whether digital artifacts constituted property under existing law.

The consensus was that they existed in a legal gray area—too new for existing frameworks, too valuable to ignore.

***

Religious communities grappled with the theological implications. If humanity could access unlimited resources, what did that mean for teachings about scarcity and sharing? If space was becoming accessible to private citizens, did that change humanity’s place in creation?

Universities scrambled to update curricula. Economics departments realized their textbooks were becoming obsolete in real-time. Aerospace engineering programs saw application rates spike 400% in a single week. Philosophy departments suddenly had waiting lists as students grappled with questions about post-scarcity ethics.

***

On social media, the discourse reached a fever pitch that didn’t diminish even days later.

#NewSpaceAge trended for three days straight. #DigitalAristocracy became a permanent fixture in global trending topics. Memes flooded every platform—some celebrating, some bitter about exclusion, many just trying to process the magnitude of change.

"My grandfather’s generation went to the moon. My generation can’t afford healthcare. And now one company is casually mining asteroids while we argue about student loans."

"Everyone’s focused on the resources but missing the bigger point: one person now has more capability than most nations. That’s terrifying regardless of their intentions."

"Watching billionaires panic because they can’t buy their way into this is honestly the most satisfying thing I’ve ever witnessed."

"The age of scarcity is ending, but will the age of inequality end with it? Or will we just find new ways to gatekeep abundance?"

The debate raged endlessly, but one thing was certain: the livestream had fundamentally altered humanity’s understanding of what was possible, what was valuable, and what the future might hold.

And the fact that there’s another potential livestream when Nova Technologies’ CEO reaches Jupiter, frightened everyone. Those that are waiting for their Lucid to be delivered, prayed that it would be delivered before the second livestream.

Missing the immersive experience of the first livestream, that they can handle. But missing another would most likely kill them.

The whole world held its breath, waiting for the things Nova Technologies would reveal in the next livestream. But the standard has been set to: it won’t be normal.